Southwest also operates three to four flights per day from Amarillo, Texas, to Dallas Love Field (DAL), allowing for more regional connectivity.įor those who ask about the specific routes from their home cities that have been cut, it's possible that you won't see those again, even as the airline restores service. "I think some people would say 'no, I want my Houston flight back,' but we've got Denver from Amarillo, you've got additional flying there, and you can get to more of the network," he added. "They have their trips back, but they're going to different destinations." It doesn't mean they're going to get each trip back."įor the sake of restoration - or "reconstruction" of the network - some cities might see new nonstop routes rather than what existed pre-pandemic, based on needs.įor instance, "Amarillo had Houston nonstop service prior to the pandemic, but now they've added services to Austin and Denver," Decaire said. is going to be different for each city," Decaire said. That's a big strength for us."Īs demand has changed during the latter stages of the pandemic, though, restoring the network doesn't necessarily mean bringing it back exactly as it was. "77% of our customers do not need to connect when they're flying Southwest Airlines. "We're a point-to-point carrier," vice president of network planning Adam Decaire said. This meant that for many Southwest passengers, instead of being able to book a nonstop flight, they would have to connect in one of Southwest's busier cities - something antithetical to Southwest's marketing model. Southwest Airlines' network map (SOUTHWEST AIRLINES) In some cases, it might restore a nonstop flight only to cut it later and shift resources to more in-demand routes. Instead, as travel slowed in 2020, and then as Southwest added new cities in 2021, the airline dropped routes, or point-to-point service. Notably, Southwest did not drop any cities from its network during the height of the pandemic. "We use words like 'restore,' which sounds like we're trying to get back to where we were, yet also, when we finish restoring, it'll be a completely different network than it was pre-COVID." Of course, with those 18 new cities, "restore" isn't quite the right word, said Watterson, now the airline's chief operating officer, at a media briefing last week. As such, the carrier was willing to share the expected timeline for its full restoration. Now, a year in, Southwest says everything is going to plan. However, with travel demand proving unpredictably strong and erratic from the second half of last year, Southwest was cautious with details of its plans, declining to share details or a timeline of routes or frequencies that would be restored.īy signing up, you will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy. "Especially in our business-type routes because those are the ones that have less frequency than they do before." 1 objective is to restore the network we had pre-pandemic," then-chief commercial officer Andrew Watterson told TPG at the time. "For next year and the year after, the No. However, that expansion left it stretched thin, with more established routes and markets seeing fewer nonstop flights and frequencies.Īs TPG reported last November, the airline planned to use 2022 to focus on restoring depth and density to its network. In 2021, that route map stretched to more points than ever, with 18 new markets added to its network, a rare expansion story as the airline industry struggled to climb out of the worst of the pandemic slowdown. and parts of Mexico and Central America, with service and focus cities up and down the East Coast throughout the Midwest, the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Northwest and even down to Hawaii. Over the 51 years since it was founded in Dallas, the airline has stretched its route map across the U.S. Want more airline-specific news? Sign up for TPG's free new biweekly Aviation newsletter. The airline plans to have restored 90% of its pre-pandemic network by next summer, with all of it fully restored by the end of 2023. Among the biggest frustrations for longtime Southwest flyers over the past two years has been seeing the airline cut nonstop routes and flight frequencies, often forcing passengers to make a connection they otherwise could have avoided.īy the end of next year, that coronavirus pandemic-era problem should be gone, Southwest executives say.
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